Tag: yoga

When we raise ourselves through meditation to what unites us with the spirit, we quicken something within us that is eternal and unlimited by birth and death. Once we have experienced this eternal part in us we can no longer doubt its existence. Meditation is thus the way to knowing and beholding the eternal indestructible, essential center of our being. – Rudolf Steiner

I think many who have meditated for some time recognize themselves in Rudolf Steiner’s description. It is liberating to know that you are more than a human being. At least more than a human being as defined in the dictionary. The knowing this gives expels fear, insecurity and many other emotions that can slow you down in finding your path in life. You know your truth. You know it’s the way you stand in life that determines where your path is going.

Sometimes people who come to my meditation gatherings wonder if I have taken courses as a yoga or mindfulness instructor. Then I always answer that I’ve done yoga, mindfulness, transcendental meditation, guided meditation, courses in energy movement, clinical hypnosis and some courses that most people in Norway have never heard about, like Morphogenesis and Heart Math Facilitator. The last one is the only course that resembles an instructor course. These are courses I’ve done over the last 20 years and I think this is a background that qualifies better to teach meditation than a week- or weekend course to become a mindfulness or yoga instructor. Not that I am not fond of mindfulness and yoga instructors. I see them as colleagues and they have a very important job as an instructor. I am very grateful that these fine people are spreading joy and dedication in Norway so people can embrace meditation as a health-promoting activity in everyday life.

I believe that being self-taught based on years of personal experience with different meditation, energy and well-being techniques is just as good if not better than a short education to become yoga or mindfulness instructor without having much of a background up front. In order to be a good instructor, you should, in my opinion, be able to understand everything that happens during meditation. And this goes further than telling that meditation is good for your mental and physical health. Please tell about the processes that take place in the body. Tell about telomeres and epigenetics. Tell about our heart and our brain and how they communicate and tell about the body’s electromagnetic field.

What’s even more important to learn before one starts at all with meditation and something that is often forgotten and perhaps is the cause that people stop practicing, is how we humans work on a cognitive level. How do people experience reality, how is this reality created and how do we process this reality? It is important that we understand our experience of meditation. I see too many people who give up because they do not know how to interpret their experiences with meditation so that they can stay motivated. I know this all too well from my own experience with meditation. It was not until I came into contact with a spiritual facilitator with years of experience in mediation that meditation became an important part of my life and a practice that has turned my life upside down in a positive way and saved me from unneeded suffering.